The present invention relates generally to medical devices and more particularly to delivery systems for deploying implantable intraluminal devices in a bifurcated vessel or the like.
Stents have become a common alternative for treating vascular conditions, such as stenoses or the like, because stenting procedures are considerably less invasive than other alternatives. Stenoses can cause blood vessels and other body lumens or cavities to become narrowed or occluded by lesions or the like. These lesions may restrict or in some cases block the flow of blood or other bodily fluids through the affected vessel.
One area in which stenotic lesions commonly form is at a point of bifurcation within a blood vessel in which a single vessel, for example, the iliac artery, branches into two or more branch vessels. In such cases, the lesion(s) may affect a single vessel, or two or more of the vessels connected by the bifurcation. One method of treating such lesions is the so-called “kissing stent” technique in which two stents are deployed simultaneously such that one portion of each stent is disposed in each of the affected branch vessels and another portion is disposed in the single, main vessel to reconstruct the bifurcation. Upon deployment, a portion of the stents disposed in the main vessel come into contact with and expand against each other, hence the term “kissing stents.” In the case of, for example, iliac artery lesions, the stents are commonly deployed using a dual femoral approach in which two separate delivery systems are inserted into the femoral arteries, one in each leg, advanced to the bifurcation, and deployed simultaneously to form the “kissing stent” configuration. In the event that the two stents are not deployed at substantially the same time, the stents may fail to contact each other and support the vessel wall, and in extreme cases, may obstruct the flow of blood and cause thrombi to form.